![]() Ordinations have traditionally been held on Ember Saturdays. Catholics instead were encouraged to thank God for the gifts of creation, and to use those gifts according to his will. The observance of the Ember Days stood in contrast to the pagan celebrations of Rome, which honored gods of nature at the change of the seasons. Leo I, and they were prescribed for the whole of the Latin rite by the time of St. The Ember Days were attested to as traditional by St. ![]() The word "ember" is an English adaptation of the Latin name, "quattuor tempora" meaning four seasons. They are tied to the seasons of the year, and are held on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of four weeks: the third week of September, the third week of Advent, the first week of Lent, and the octave of Pentecost. Peter Montague, “The Four Horsemen-Part 1,” Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly, #471, 12/7/95 ()."On these days, the Church 'entreats the Lord for the various needs of humanity' and gives thanks to God for various blessings received,'" he added, quoting the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar.Įmber Days were traditionally days of fast and abstinence. 36-39.ġ6.Response to the query “How should rogation days and ember days be celebrated?” (, retrieved 2/20/08).ġ8.“Spain to Recognize Rights of Apes?” Catholic World News, 6/27/08. my article, “The Rogationtide,” TLM 17:2 (Spring 2008), pp. ![]() There was also an old superstition that the souls in Purgatory were temporarily released from their plight in order to thank their relatives for their prayers and beg for more.ġ5.Cf. The Golden Legend, Volume 1, “The Ember Days.”ġ4.In the Middle Ages, the Ember days were kept as holydays of obligation, with rest from work and special acts of charity for the poor, such as feeding and bathing them. Again we see the principle of fulfillment rather than abolition liturgically enacted.ġ3.Cf. Consequently, the Vigil of Pentecost has been a day of required fasting and abstinence for centuries and it was kept as such even through. After Pentecost Sunday and its Octave, we will conclude Pascaltide and begin the Season after Pentecost. Foley, Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday? The Catholic Origin to Just About Everything (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 148-49.ġ1.The medievals called this the jejunium exultationis-the fast of exultation.ġ2.There are relevant readings from the Old Testament and from the Letter to the Hebrews that are used throughout the year in both the 19 lectionaries, but the September Embertide is the only time that these readings are used in order to coincide with the autumn festivals of Sukkot and Yom Kippur. The Feast of Pentecost (i.e., White Sunday) is one of the principal feasts in the life of the Church. 36-39.ĩ.Jacopo de Voragine, “The Ember days,” in The Golden Legend.ġ0.Cf. Of course, the other remnant of the weekly fast is Friday abstinence from flesh meat.Ħ.Technically, neither Jewish fast was part of the Mosaic Law, though both were, I would argue, part of the Mosaic way of life.Ĩ.Cf. However, this backwards motion from the end of the world to the days of the Old Testament places in even greater relief the importance of today’s Mass, the Ember Wednesday of the Advent season. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs (New York: Harcourt, 1958), 31-32.ĥ.Weiser does claim, however, that voluntarily fasting or abstaining on Wednesdays was still alive in some areas when he was writing (1958). The one reason stated by the Didache is more polemical: Christians fast on different days in order to be different from the “hypocrites,” i.e., the Pharisees (8.1).Ĥ.Cf. ![]() Autumn Ember Days are moveable days, the first coming on the Wednesday after Holy Cross (. The spring Ember Days follow Ash Wednesday (movable, forty-six days before Easter) and are offered in thanksgiving for the flowers, which feed the bees, who make the wax, that gives us the altar candles. This is the first Michaelmas or Autumn Ember Days of this year. Another theory is that “Ember” comes from the Old English, ymbren, meaning time or season.ģ. Lucy’s Day (December 13th) and are offered in thanksgiving for the olive harvest, which gives us holy oils. 1.Officially, they fall on the first week after the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14).Ģ. Fish and other designated seafood are traditionally eaten by Catholics on Fridays due to the prohibition on eating meat on that day.
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